Manage your subscription

60 Seconds

It’s the economy, Cupid

The US’s fertility rate is on the decline. A report published last week by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that in 2011 the average number of children per woman of child-bearing age was 1.9, down from 2.1 in 2008. The figures may be linked to the economic downturn, with couples delaying having kids, and having fewer.

Caliwolfication

Wolves could become a protected species in California, after the state’s Fish and Game Commission voted to accept a petition to do so. While wolves have returned to several northern US states, the Californian population currently numbers just one&colon; a wolf called OR-7 who entered the state from Oregon late last year.

Bouncing bot upgrade

Japan’s next attempt at asteroid sampling, the probe Hayabusa 2, will carry a beefed-up version of its previous bouncing robot. The German-built Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT) will launch with the mission in 2014, the German space agency announced on 1 October.

Advertisement

Sold: Tesla’s lab

Fans of Nikola Tesla planning to build a museum dedicated to the inventor have purchased the site of his former Wardenclyffe laboratory in Shoreham, New York. The Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe group raised the necessary &dollar;1.4 million this year thanks to online crowdfunding.

Predicting reading skills

Ability to read may depend on the stage of a child’s brain development. So suggest the results of brain scans taken over a 3-year period that showed children aged 7 to 12 with above-average reading skills initially had less-developed white matter that increased, while white-matter development declined in children with below-average reading skills (PNAS, doi.org/jg3).